Deftly Avoiding A Case Of The Mondays

The morning started with a bang. Literally, as Jack wet his bed once again (back to night-time pull-ups, because the house is actually starting to smell of eau de urine), then climbed into bed with us and bonked me on the head in passing.

Rather than let this portend the beginning of yet another heinous Monday, I decided to buck the system and set out on a determined path to a pleasant day. I put on my new flowy, white, knee-length skirt, an eggplant-colored top, and chunky foho necklace. A pair of khaki canvas flip-flops, and I'm Foho Suburban-Mom Chic. At least that's what I tell myself, and who in Wild, Wonderful West Virginia is going to dare to argue?

Get the kids up and dressed, loaded into the van, then off to the local coffee house that provides my own little slice of Nirvana on a weekday morning. Sugar-free vanilla, skim latte for me, bagels and cream cheese for the kids. Peruse the bookshelves with an ecclectic mix of books for sale from a book store in the next-door historic town, ponder buying civil war book for T. Listen to groovy world-beat music playing softly on the overhead speakers. Regard the limited prints from a local artist, on display on the same wall where my photos will be hung in the month of August.

Finish our liesurely breakfast, load up into the car and head to Walmart. Purchase pool noodles for my curtains project (no, seriously! it will look much cooler than it sounds), grab various household necessities (really? 3 kinds of toothpaste? how did it come to this?), grab soda and butter and string cheese. Try to figure out how those became food groups around here.

Stand in check-out line for 20 minutes. Kill time playing "what could these pool noodles be?" with Jack. Swords, unicorn horns, telephones, alien antennas... Swordfight with pool noodles until grumpy old lady in the next line gives the look of death. Glare back at her, then giggle uncontrollably. Sword fight for another 5 minutes until Toby gets hold of bananas from the cart and bites through the skin of one in order to eat it. Rescue the bananas and start offloading the cart onto the check-out counter. Pay, load cart, head for the exit. Stop to buy a sprite for Jack and a bouncy ball for Toby. Make it to the car, unload, get 4 compliments from strangers on my beautiful and well-behaved children. Smile, load kids into the van, giggle at the carefree feeling of the day. Head for home.

All in all, I would say that was pretty darn fine for a Monday. We'll just say the kids constitute my 40 pieces of flair.